The Battle On The Inside
by Chaanoua
Summary: Only months after the events of Episode III, Ahsoka Tano has been living up to her would've been Jedi Knight status by aiding the rebels on Dantooine. Without warning however Ahsoka will have to put her will to the true test when the Empire and her former master come knocking. Ahsoka VS Vader, and emotions VS Reason. However, will Vader bring himself to kill his old Padawan?
1. Chapter 1

((This will be my first Star Wars related work, I am sorry for any inconsistencies with other novels or anything considered canon.))

**Bast Castle, Vjun.**

_Trickle, trickle, drip, trickle…_

The skies of the long dead planet laid stretched across the toxic mountains of the acid jungle world, thick fog surrounding the very tops of each grey earth structure. Acidic rain baring down from the murky green sky onto eroded rocks to form a small stream that would join with a pale river at the end of a steep hill; devoid of any life, of any hope. Vjun was one of the gloomiest planets in the Galaxy, only in the shadow of Raxus Prime and its hellish toxic surface. The anti-sentient nature of the outer-rim world was a place few beings or even droids could survive on for long periods of time, and it was for this reason that the Galactic Empire had restored an ancient castle that was built thousands of years ago for Palpatine's favorite pet –the feared cyborg enforcer; Darth Vader.

Inside the castle one might find it far from homey, the black walls stretched out all over the area with a black floor illuminated with red lights following an "X" pattern of sorts was the main design of each hallway and room. Control panels hung from each wall, displaying the current date, time, and weather as well as a way to estimate how much acid the rain was carrying to avoid any damage to machinery, personal, or Vader himself. The structure looked so old on the outside yet so menacing and technologically advanced on the interior.

The black armored wearing sith himself remained seated deep within the belly of his mechanical fortress, inside a large sphere shaped meditation chamber, the only area he could safely remove his breathing mask and not die or be in severe pain. It is where he could look in the mirror, only to see a burnt, pale, and scarred face rather than his old perfect complexion. Like a burned cancer patient, seated on his throne of broken thoughts that he could never repair. With his mask off, Vader sighed in regret and depression, how long ago was it he lost his wife, his place in the order, and everything he had worked for? All for a fake promise made by a man he thought he could trust, whom took advantage of his need for a father to groom him into nothing but an errand boy? Vader had destroyed the Jedi, murdered children, and killed everyone… everyone he had cared about. "Was it worth it…?" he questioned himself, slowly slouching on his shiny white chair. "Yes… I suppose it was. I lost everything for the power I craved, and now it's all I have. Surrounded by men I cannot bond with, with troops that are no longer as creative as they used to be, and the slave of an old incompetent dark lord… Yes… I got what I wanted…" Through all of his bad memories of Order 66, there was one thing deep inside him that the sith was relieved about. That only three months before the entire event his old padawan had defected from the Jedi for similar reasons he had –they didn't trust her and cast her out like a leper to appease the senate. He was glad that day he didn't have to cut her down, that he was spared from that trauma and that so was she. But now, inside of his hollow shell, Vader knew that wouldn't last. "She'll never accept the Empire…" Vader knew it, Ahsoka was loyal to the Jedi order, and the Republic. The Empire was _neither _so it wasn't likely his old apprentice would stay in hiding. And with the whole legions of troops and probe droids and spies devoted to rooting out fugitive Jedi, it was only a matter of time before she was found; of course Palpatine would jump on the chance to further subjugate his apprentice by killing Ahsoka –Vader knew it.

Of course, it's not to say Vader felt bad about bringing his fist down on the Jedi, they tried to kill Palpatine and the senate, they kept him down while he was Anakin Skywalker, and made multiple bad decisions that affected everybody. The Empire had made the Galaxy perfect, at least in his own view. Deciding it was time to stop reflecting on his past, the dark lord pressed a button on his arm rest that brought his black helmet down, both ends collapsing around his head and with a _hiss _the helmet had re-sealed itself. The chamber then opened, the top separating from the bottom as steam flooded out of the chamber, cleaning itself so that bacteria from Vader's exposed skin wouldn't collect on the walls or cause a bad smell. The sith lord strides across the metallic floor, heading to the control room to receive information about whatever was currently going on…

Meanwhile, parsecs away from Vader's reach was the rebel base on Dantooine. Hidden away in the grassy Plaines and forests where the rebels had made their home in an abandoned village. It was the perfect place to hide out, as the last remaining villages had been wiped out when the Galactic Empire first stormed the planet and killed Jedi Master Falon Grey. It had taken Months for the imperials to finally leave the planet, and the rebels had slowly made their way back on the world's surface. Ahsoka was also with the rebels now, having joined the alliance when she heard about the massacre of the Jedi order, about Darth Vader, and the enslavement of numerous worlds and species. The Togurta Jedi's decision to leave the Jedi order months prior to the deaths of all her Jedi friends saved her life, and a few rebels as well. She even learnt some things from Master grey before his death, and even master Rahm Kota. Ahsoka had picked up on force healing, how to better hone her telekinesis and how to rely on her Lekkus for natural sensing abilities. In short, she had earned the rank of Jedi Knight, and planned to keep it. It's what Anakin would have wanted, or so she thought –believing that he too had been a victim of Order 66. She knew nothing about his transformation into Darth Vader, just as she had no clue where Obi-Wan was hiding or if he was even alive. She hoped so, however. The red-skinned female was currently assisting rebel officers loading weaponry into a stolen LAAT gunship, as well as food and medical supplies. The alliance had to always be ready of imperial attack, living with paranoia of the day their mass slaughter would come at the hand of white plastic soldiers and their commanders.

"This is the last crate?" An officer questioned as Ahsoka sat meditating on the floor, carefully lifting the heavy metal weapon crates off of the ground and into the gunship, eyes tightly closed in concentration. With the low sound of metal touching down on metal, the officer watched as Ahsoka successfully put the final crate in the gunship before opening her eyes with a smile, "Was the last crate, now there aren't any."

Standing up, she nodded to the officer with a smile, "I suppose we have more work to do?" she questioned, crossing her arms in her famous style. The brown haired man nodded, pulling out a data pad and looking at it to see if there was any more work for the day. After a few moments, he looked back at the Jedi with his blue eyes and shook his head. "Nope, all done for the day, the other squads will handle locking down equipment for the night. The hunting squads got plenty of fish and meat, so we can enjoy a good meal tonight."

"That's excellent, any word on Imperial presence in the system?" Ahsoka replied, always worried that this base would be found again.

"No, as far as we know none of the X-wing recons have found any imperial presence, there was a probe droid landing a few miles north but it crashed into a mountain before it could even activate, so I doubt that'll lead the Empire to us."

"Alright then, make sure to stay alert officer Zeloff, there's no guarantee the Empire won't double check Dantooine to see if we came back in the future. I doubt they'd be very happy."

"Will do."

Ahsoka then turned and started to walk away from the officer, allowing a slight cool breeze to come over her body, cooling her off from all the heat using the force for a full ten minutes caused her. The stress was sure to make her sore the next day, but work had to be done and it was too risky using old slightly damaged lifting cranes to put the crates on the gunship, and she was out to save casualties. If the empire attacked, they needed as many men as possible to make sure they could get off planet.

As she stepped inside the large open hanger made from stone that housed multiple X-wings and gunships, Ahsoka could only hope the day would never come that she'd have to face the empire. The clone wars was bad enough, but from what the Togurta had heard, this civil war was far worse…

Off in the distance away from the rebel base of Dantooine, a small metallic object would hurl down to the ground from the atmosphere into the muddy ground near a lake. Emerging from the small crater that formed was an Imperial Probe droid, activating its numerous exploration devices as the droid slowly hovered out of the landing sight and into the safety of the nearby trees. Technicians operating the droid from the Imperial Star Destroyer _Maxillus _turned to their commanding bridge officer –a dark haired man wearing a formal grey suit with black boots and gloves whom looked middle aged to report the successful landing.

"Commander Tarkin, the probe droid has successfully landed on Dantooine and is commencing searching functions, sir."

Tarkin, looking towards the imperial whom delivered the news, smiled faintly before replying "Good work, make sure not a crevice of that ruined village is left unchecked for those rebellion _roaches_."


	2. Chapter 2

Another day had passed and still no signs of imperial presence on Dantooine. Several recon units of rebels had been sent out to the crash site in the grassy mountains, and the droids remains were destroyed completely from the force of impact when it apparently collided with a tree.

However, a second probe droid had made it's landing quite close to the abandoned village and caves the rebellion were currently using as a base of operations. The droid, managing to stay unnoticed, proceeded to scan the area; the imperial probe droids were extremely accurate and picky. Equipped with sampling claws, a radar, built in blaster, and long distance communication in an encrypted imperial format. As the day went on, the droid managed to escape into the caves of the rebel base, sending back all the information needed to the Empire's closest space station and star destroyers.

"Sir, probe droid T-8897 has picked up activity from the caves and the village on Dantooine; the power levels concede with what would be expected from power generators and equipment. The droid also reports finding a good amount of rebel soldiers in the area judging by their appearance. Though, it may just be an illegal smuggling base as well." A lower level imperial worker reported, walking towards Moff Tarkin on the bridge of his imperial star destroyer. Handing Tarkin photos and research data the droid acquired in holographic form, the senior grand moff looked over everything the droid had accumulated and nodded to the worker, handing the holodisk back to the light brown wearing operator with a nod. "Alert any nearby Star Destroyers and their fighter squadrons. I want the orbit of the planet over that village blocked off, destroy **any **ships that try to leave from that location. Also, activate the droids self destruct somewhere remote." He ordered, placing his hands behind his back.

"Yes sir," replied the worker, immediately returning to his work station to operate the droid via remote control into finishing it's tasks.

"I must report this to Lord Vader and see how he wishes to proceed." Tarkin muttered, walking away from the bridge of the star destroyer into the communication room a few halls away. Once inside the sleek black room, Tarkin activated the visual screen for a call to Darth Vader's quarters on Vjun. Sure enough, the blue static faded to gray and revealed the respirator mask of Vader.

"What is it, Tarkin? You've interrupted my meditation." Vader replied in aggravation, skipping any form of formal greeting. The Sith lord wanted to get down to business.

Tarkin ignored Vader's rude tone, clearing his throat with ease. "A probe droid found what could be a rebel base on Dantooine. The force there is sizable. There's a small chance it's just a smuggling port, but there's a large amount of rebel class equipment on the planet."

Vader seemed to take some interest in the situation.

"Did they notice the droid? And what actions did you take?" He replied.

"No, I had the droid self destruct in a remote area, and currently two Star Destroyers are on their way. They will be making sure no ships come or go from that area. We're waiting for your orders. If the probe droid and the data are correct, a force user of some kind is on the planet as well."

Vader pondered for a moment, the fact it could be a large rebel base was already interesting enough and called for his attention, but the fact a Jedi or just a force user in general was there _aiding _the enemy or smugglers made him even more certain this would require a personal touch.

"I shall arrive at once. The entire military force of _both _Star Destroyers are to be deployed at once under the command of which ever commander you choose. He will report to me upon my personal landing. Bombard their space port at once, as well as any landing pads or ships they have In orbit.. After that, wait for further orders." Vader stated, standing from his chair and briskly turning towards the exit of his sphere meditation room. Tarkin, knowing his orders, ended the transmission with a simple "Yes, lord Vader" and walked back towards the bridge of his Star Destroyer.

"Orders from Lord Vader himself," Tarkin announced as he returned. "Destroy their landing pads, orbital bombardment on anything they have ship wise." He repeated, the ship crew immediately acknowledged the order and began to prepare the turbo-laser turrets on the large dagger shaped capital ship to rain down hell on the rebels.

Ahsoka Tano was out in the mountains enjoying the little, but lovely, wildlife the planet had. It was just so wild, yet somehow... empty on this world. A beautiful orange sky and endless grassy plains for miles and miles. She sat there, mediating, drawing in the life of the surrounding area. Then it hit her.

_Something terrible is about to happen._

Standing up, Ahsoka listened quietly until she heard loud explosions far off. Turning around and instinctively running towards the edge of the cliff, she saw a birds eye view of their base of operations. The landing pad which had stolen LAAT/I gunships and many, many different classes of ships such as Y-wings, X-wings, and V-wings were smashed, burning, and on fire. Looking upwards Ahsoka saw the cause of the sudden explosions and destruction...

Three Imperial Class star destroyers, all in the sky, hovering over the entire area. Rebel soldiers immediately acted upon the sudden Imperial attack and did their best to grab weapons to arm themselves quickly as possible. It wasn't long before Imperial gunships and landing ships came hurtling down from the sky in swarms, mowing down the rebels caught in the open with laser fire and turret beams.

"Oh no..." Ahsoka muttered, drawing both of her green colored sabers and racing towards her friends. In the distance the imperial landing ships made contact with the ground and swarms of stormtroopers of various classes came racing down the hills, filling the air with red blaster fire. With their only options of escape completely destroyed, almost half of their forces pinned in the open or gunned down, and a massive force of stormtroopers racing for them Ahsoka knew only one option.

"Retreat! Into the caves!" She yelled as loudly as possible, watching as a gunship raced towards her. Skillfully, she readied herself with her sabers, and when one of the beam turrets from the side of the attack ship fired Ahsoka deflected it right back into the Ships hill, cutting the thing right in two and causing it to explode as it hit the ground. Conveniently the smoke from the downed craft would cover most of their retreat. They didn't have long however.

Quickly, Ahsoka deflected any bolts of fire that came through the smoke at the rebels as they flooded into the caves. While a few were still shot before they could make it, a majority survived, and soon after Ahsoka was sure the remaining soldiers, at least as many as she could wait for, were inside the caves she turned and said "Quick, collapse the entrance. We don't need them following us. If we escape through the caves we can cover our tracks and have a chance at surviving." As per her orders, three rebels threw frag grenades at the cave entrance, causing rocks and boulders to fall from the ceiling and deny access to anyone else via that route.

Outside, the large forces of stormtroopers casually began to secure the area. Any remaining wounded rebel soldiers were shot while a few were taken as prisoner for Lord Vader to question if he wished. The external rebel equipment was also either destroyed, or looted, or both. After a bit of scouting, all of the troopers found that the power generator was somewhere inside the caves, and as such the rebels would be able to survive for a few days if left to their own devices.

"They'd never do this if there wasn't an exit point," a storm trooper speculated to another. "Well, we caught em off guard, here's hoping they dug their own grave." Another replied. Another storm trooper wearing a backpack and shoulder cauldron with blue 501'st markings on his armor approached and intercepted the conversation. "Lord Vader will be arriving in ten minutes. I want everyone ready for his arrival. That means I expect this entire area fully locked down, any remaining rebel equipment looted for Intel and then destroyed, and a general idea of that cave system. Let's not look like rookies, Vader obviously is gonna want those caves searched."

"Wouldn't it be easier to just bombard the entire cave system and crush the rebels that way?" A trooper asked.

"One would think," replied the commander, shaking his head. "However, those computers and data centers the rebels have hidden down there could be used to decrypt their messages we've intercepted, and could have even more Intel on other base locations and where they are getting their supplies and major funding from. We hit em hard with this one, Lord Vader would be _furious _If I had those caves destroyed along with all the evidence. We're doing it the hard way." He explained. The two stormtroopers stood and nodded in understanding before saluting and returning to their duties.

**WRITER'S NOTES:**

_**I apologize for the length of time it took to write this second chapter. I wrote the first some months ago. However, I have found time to write again and as such I have decided to finish this small fan fiction in the next two or three chapters. Read and review!**_


	3. Chapter 3

Ahsoka and the rest of the rebels knew they wouldn't have forever, in-fact, their time was running out quicker than they anticipated. The togruta female's body was covered in a light dry sweat from anticipation. Seated in a corner whilst her rebel comrades operated the computers, trying to call for help to discretely extract as many as possible.

_How did I get here...?_

Ahsoka remembered years ago, the last time she saw any Jedi was when she left the order, and during the confederate invasion of Coruscant. Battle droids were flooding the streets, and at first, the defense of the city was a massacre. Clones were being shot or discarded, hell, she remembered a SBD grabbing up an injured clone and crushing his neck. During what many considered the final great Separatist assault Ahsoka had felt remorse for leaving the order and not intervening when she should.

It was that guilt that drove her out of hiding when Palpatine revealed himself and declared the galaxy one large state under his rule. Ahsoka had been one of the few Jedi brave enough to risk getting caught by watching the public burning of Jedi corpses outside the ransacked temple the next day after operation knightfall. She had assumed her master, Anakin Skywalker, had also died in the assault. She knew for a fact Plo Koon was also dead, as was her other friends. Her trust for the clone troopers, no, her bonds to them had been severed when she realized what they were capable of.

Ahsoka never finished her training but she considered herself a Jedi Knight, as that was the rank Yoda offered her. She would live up to it and be damned if anyone was going to take it from her. She joined the rebellion soon after, ready to end the Empire ruled under by Palpatine and his Sith enforcer Darth Vader. Vader had been the one to lead the assault on the Jedi temple, Vader killed her master, and as such she was going to avenge his death.

First, however, she'd need to leave Dantooine alive with as many men as possible. "Zeloff, have any other rebel cruisers responded to our distress calls?" She asked, standing and turning her head over to the middle aged commander working a terminal. "No sir." He replied.

The Rebellion had found Jedi to be quite an important factor in their ranks; Ahsoka being given the position of a commander over the small 200 man force she held a position over. It was a title that Ahsoka had some experience in due to her days of the clone wars, and as such she practiced excellent protocol. However, even she found the fact that their need for help hadn't reached the ears of nearby Rebellion fleets to be quite a downer on her hope.

"Commander Appo," a storm-trooper called out, rushing over to his commander. "Lord Vader's craft is preparing to land." He reported.

Appo nodded, "get all the men lined up in columns for Lord Vader to inspect and command. Hurry." He ordered, immediately taking his T-21 and walking over to an area lined with beacons for Lord Vader to land in. The small lights served as a makeshift landing pad, letting the Sith and his escorts know the area was safe to land in. When the Imperial landing shuttle broke through the clouds and hovered over to the area, all the troops that were available lined up. Nervously, each white armored clad trooped brandished their E-11's across their chest in a formal fashion for the supreme general of the storm-trooper corps and leader of the 501'st squadron.

With a loud hiss, the door to the aircraft opened and out walked Vader escorted by two Imperial red guards. Silently, Vader looked back and forth at the forces he had to work with and signaled for Appo to walk over to him. The commander approached his general and reported "Sir, they escaped into the caves and blocked off the entrance by causing a cave in. However, their landing pad and aircraft was damaged sir and many of them were killed during the infantry rush. Out of the estimated 200 there's only probably 40 to 50 left."

Vader did not reply directly to the report, but rather followed with an order. "Search the area for another cave entrance. Cut off their escape if there is one, otherwise, the rest of the troopers have permission to remove the debris from the cave in and charge."

The stormtroopers immediately fanned out, whereas Appo got on his communication link and requested more MAAT gunships to scan over the area much quicker than the Stormtroopers could. Once the request was put in, he proceeded to request bulldozer equipment to unblock the cave entrance.

Ahsoka continued to stay silent amongst the rest of the mixed species of humanoids bustling around her clad in light equipment. She was useless at the moment, and only five minutes earlier had Zeloff reported that communications had been jammed by the Imperials. They weren't leaving. All of the men already came to the conclusion that their last breathes would be on this grassy rock.

"I know you all feel afraid..." Ahsoka spoke up, standing. "But we can't focus on the future right now. We still have a chance if we can steal one of those Imperial transports... at least some of us would make it." _Some of us..._

The chances of stealing anything from the imperials right now was quite low, especially right now. The young Jedi Knight felt something dark in the area, yet it felt familiar too. However, she hadn't brought it up, not wanting to cause more stress.

Specialized ships capable of carrying bulldozer equipment flew down from space, setting the heavy machinery down whilst other ships dropped ammo and a singular Imperial armored personal carrier. "Alright, get the explosives over here." Appo commanded, watching as an Imperial heavy trooper raced over with the det packs. Carefully and precisely, the explosives specialist rigged the explosives onto the large boulders that blocked the cave entrance, giving a simple hand signal when it was complete.

"Lord Vader, we are ready to breech." Appo reported to the tall Sith standing some feet away.

"Detonate the explosives." Vader replied, nodding.

Everyone heard the loud explosion that followed. Immediately, the bulldozer, operated by an imperial worker, quickly pushed the debris out of the way and then backed up. The gray construction machine which sat on top of tank-like tracks was now covered with dust, causing the imperial operating the open cockpit to cough a little before turning the machine off. Vader ignited his lightsaber and took point with Appo, racing into the caves with the majority of the stormtroopers following, their plastoid boots echoing a loud marching sound throughout the caves hollow structure.

"Kill the rebels, don't damage the computers." Vader stated, making sure all the soldiers knew their objective was to gain intel from the computer and wipe out the rebels with as little damage as possible. "No explosives." he added. 

Ahsoka had heard the explosion the moment it happened, all the rebels had actually. The sound of stormtroopers racing to their location was all they needed to hear echoing around the cave to know their time was up. "Quick! Put what ever explosives you have and use them to blow up the terminals! They _can't _find out what we're planning!" Ahsoka shouted. Rebels that were carrying grenades or any form of explosives quickly activated them and then threw them on the computers whilst Ahsoka quickly sliced as many as she could with her light sabers. "Run!" Another rebel shouted, seeing as how all the grenades were about to go off.

"Let's go! We need to get to the other exit and try to take a transport! Those huge imperial drop ships will carry all of us and we should be able to jump to hyperspace quick enough!" Zeloff ordered. All the men quickly ran from the large cave-room towards a smaller tunnel, just in time for the explosives to go off, causing the roof to collapse and crush the damaged computers, though not enough to block off the other entrance as they were hoping.

"Did you hear that?" A stormtrooper asked when he heard something rumble and saw dust heading their way. Vader's breathing mask was becoming quite agitated due to all the dust around him as well as smoke, and coughed before using the force to clear the dust clouds from around them. "I need to get a better filter on this thing..." Vader murmured to himself before three stormtroopers raced ahead to scout a bit. Reaching what used to be the rebel command room to find nothing but smashed computers.

Vader was quite frustrated, having hoped to return the terminals to imperial intelligence. However, there was still the matters at hand. "They're trying to escape." Vader concluded as Imperials secured the room.

"I have an idea of where the cave's other entrance is, sir. We could bait them into a trap by leaving a transport in the open by the cave exit." Appo suggested. Vader didn't like the idea too much due to the fact it'd be an obvious trap to an experienced mind, but since these were only desperate insurgents trying to escape justice, he figured it could work.

"Excellent, yes. Leave a transport near the estimated exit point and then ambush them in the open. Our numbers will make it easy to pick them off like flies."

"It will be done, sir." Appo replied.

Ahsoka could still feel the ominous feeling inside of herself. It was like someone she knew and loved very much had been clouded by the dark side of the force. She knew she felt the presence of someone from long ago, but they had changed now... they were different. Her master was dead, as far as Kenobi told her. The last time she had seen Obi-Wan was on Tatooine before he told her to leave and hide Alderaan with the Organa family. She even temporarily found refuge with the Amidala family, heck, even Jar Jar Binks helped her stay hidden. Over the months however it seemed her contact with them were starting to become less and less. As of now, she wasn't even sure which of her contacts were alive and which were dead.

All she knew was, something terrible was coming for her and all of her men. She could feel it, and could only hope it was a false alarm.


	4. Chapter 4

Ahsoka still felt something negative, something dark around her. It felt as though the dark side had encircled her and was waiting to go in for the kill. Ahsoka hadn't felt this nervous since the day Jabba the Hutt's son was kidnapped and she was ambushed by Magnaguards outside his palace with Jabba's son strapped to her back. Only this time the situation was far worse, Anakin was not coming to save her and she couldn't count on her men to do so either since their objective was to escape, not fight.

Vader's own force senses started to feel a shift near him. The Sith lord suddenly stopping in his tracks in the cave tunnels with the stormtroopers under him also stopping movement, remaining quiet. They and seen this behavior before and knew that interrupting would displease the Sith, and displeasing Vader was inadvisable. "I sense... something..." Vader commented, focusing in on it. Feeling a familiar presence, Vader knew someone he used to know was here, but the question was who? Could it be a Jedi leading the rebels?

"Onward, no more idle games." Vader ordered, igniting his red blade and stepping forward, taking point in-front of his troops as they fell in line and continued to follow their commander. Vader was prepared to deal with the rebel team _and whomsoever_ presence was strong enough in the force to slightly annoy his own.

The rebels had a small advantage over the Empire, they had been given a significant head start in the tunnels before the imperial strike team had rushed in and been blocked off by debris, some surely having been crushed under the ceiling. Ahsoka could only hope the explosions triggered a total cave in, perhaps completely blocking off the Imperials. "Sir, if you don't mind me asking, how are we going to get off this rock?" A male rebel trooper questioned. Ahsoka could feel this trooper's emotions through the force, and they all reeked of fear for his own life. "We're sneaking to the landing pads. If we're lucky, Imperial troops landed by the exit before they were informed we were in the caves, and maybe left an unattended landing transport there. We can take it and go." She replied. It was risky, stealing an imperial landing craft. There was no promise it'd be big enough for all of them, or that they'd slip away safely. The Imperial Star Destroyer in orbit was still hovering over everything, if the stormtroopers called in a rogue transport, they'd be shot down by turbo laser fire before even breaching the atmosphere.

The trooper obviously felt the need to question his commander further, but relented, this was no time to harass the only Jedi around with useless comments of self preservation and fear.

Ahsoka continued walking forward until she finally saw a bit of sunlight streaking across the cave wall, they had reached the exit at last. "Weapons ready, I'm going to peak out first and make sure everything's clear," the Jedi Knight said. Carefully, Ahsoka used the force to dash over to the next wall, and then the next, close enough to peak out of the cave without being seen by stormtroopers. Near a lake shore was a landing pad, still intact, with a large Imperial landing craft. A sentinel-class, which meant there was plenty of room for the survivors of the attack to board, with only one Officer and two stormtroopers guarding it.

"Stay there," she whispered over the comm link. Ahsoka could handle the guards alone, that way there wouldn't be a lot of noise. Igniting both of her green sabers the togurta Jedi raced out of the cave, using force speed to quickly run up to the stormtroopers.

"Hey! Jedi!" One of them yelled, pulling his E-11 on her and shooting frantically, though not in time to save his midsection from receiving a deep slash that would immediately render him dead due to cut organs and severed spine. The officer, carrying a T-21, attempted to shoot at Ahsoka was well. The Jedi skillfully dodged each blast before simply decapitating him. The last stormtrooper grabbed a grenade from his belt, and activated it.

"What're you gonna do, Jedi? If you kill me, you die too!" The trooper stated, staring the Jedi down. He felt confident enough in his own abilities that he'd be able to take down this female who just carved through his co-workers with ease. Ahsoka knew sometimes violence wasn't always the answer, however, and deactivated her light saber.

"You don't want to kill me." Ahsoka stated, slowly waving her hand.

The stormtrooper suddenly seemed to be daydreaming, standing in place, stiff as a statue for a few moments. Ahsoka's mind trick abilities had improved since she last used them, and she was more capable of using them to peacefully manipulate this stormtrooper into deactivating the grenade.

"I... don't want to kill you..." Repeated the stormtrooper.

"You want to put away the grenade, and go for a swim in the lake. You deserve a little break." Ahsoka suggested, once again waving her hand to make the verbal command work. The stormtrooper quickly deactivated his grenade, clipping it back onto his belt and then turning around, heading for the lake. "I want to put the grenade away and go for a swim in the lake. I deserve a break." He repeated in a mindless tone, walking directly into the water until he disappeared. Ahsoka realized she just probably indirectly caused the stormtrooper to drown himself, but it was better than her dying from shrapnel.

"All clear." She whispered once more, and soon the rebel troops flooded out of the caves towards her position. Suddenly, however, three TIE fighters quickly came down from the skies, shooting at the unprepared rebel troops in an attempt to pick them off one by one, following the first pass the TIEs flew out of sight. At least ten troops had been killed by the surprise attack run, but most of the men were more shaken than injured.

"Run! Get inside the transport. They know what we're doing!" A troop yelled, racing up the landing ramp of the craft, motioning at the other troops to quickly board. Without much hesitation, the other rebels followed.

Ahsoka quickly felt that pang in her heart again, and this time realized what it was – a trap. "No! Wait!" She called, out stretching her hand. Too late, within the next millisecond the landing craft exploded into a million pieces, killing all the rebel troops that had gone inside or were standing just next to it at the time. The explosion force was strong enough to knock Ahsoka back slightly, causing her to watch in horror as the crooked, burning hull of the landing craft slowly caved in on itself, forming a permanent metal grave for the troops who had raced inside.

With only a few troops left, about ten by Ahsoka's view, their situation was now extremely hopeless. There was essentially no way they would survive now, and no telling when those TIE fighters would come back around for another pass.

"Alright, all of you, hands up!" Commander Appo called as he waltzed out of the caves next to Darth Vader, the stormtroopers that followed quickly training their E-11 blasters on the Jedi and her injured comrades. Vader suddenly realized all along what he had felt in the force -his old padawan, Ahsoka.

"Ahsoka?" Vader commented abruptly, causing Appo to look back at his general for a few moments, "Uh, sir?" the Clone veteran inquired, curious as to how Vader knew this Jedi's name or why it seemed to trigger a slight bit of emotion.

Ahsoka cautiously stood up, wiping what felt like a small amount of her own blood from her lip. Noticing the large black cyborg she immediately hissed "Vader... I've heard a lot about you." She ignored the fact this Sith knew her name, and immediately began to swell with rage. Vader felt this, and knew she was going to try something.

"Don't." He warned, although his former padawan didn't heed it, and channeled a force push so strong it sent Appo and most of his forces flying back. Vader quickly used the force and his own weight to get footing for himself, managing to tank the force push that sent his cape flying out behind him.

"I heard how you killed all the Jedi, how you killed everyone I knew. Including my master!" Ahsoka yelled, igniting her light sabers once more. She knew the chances of surviving a direct confrontation with Vader was quite slim, however, she would not die a coward. She would not repeat what she had done months ago. If it was the Jedi's place to die and their order be wiped out, then she would fight and die against the Sith as her friends before her had done.

"I see you have become more powerful since we last spoke, Ahsoka. However, it's only because you are slowly giving into the dark side." Vader commented, once again calling her by name as he held his saber in a defensive position. "You knew it just as I that the Jedi order was failing and corrupt, _snips._"

The Jedi stopped in her tracks at the nickname. There was only one person who called her that, and it was Anakin.

"Don't call me that, only Master Anakin can call me that!" She yelled in fury, almost at the verge of tears. "You aren't him!"

Vader's troops finally regained their stature, aiming their guns back on the young Jedi female. The Sith Lord stepped forward, walking in a straight line towards his old apprentice, light saber ready.

"Oh, but I am."

NEXT CHAPTER

LORD VADER VS AHSOKA

R&amp;R

**I hope you're all still enjoying this story. I put a good amount of effort into this one. This story is my first star wars fan fiction actually! So in the future I might make more seeing as how this one appears to be receiving favorable reviews. I want to personally thank everyone who has favorites my story or reviewed it, I continue it just for you guys. 3 **


	5. Chapter 5

Ahsoka found herself in a tight situation. Her former master whom was now a Dark Lord stood no more than a few yards away with a garrison of imperial storm troopers, her rebel soldiers were all dead or dying, and she realized in only a fraction of a second she was truly screwed.

Several MAAT gunships quickly spilled from the Star Destroyer over them, making sure she had no means of escaping as they surrounded her, putting the togurta Jedi in the spotlight -turrets aimed at her orange colored head.

Still, Ahsoka kept her lightsabers ignited; if Vader aimed to kill her right off the bat, the gunships would have already mowed her down. She knew from what she had heard that Vader did not usually hesitate to kill Jedi, and this was a special occasion -mostly because from what the cybernetic Sith was telling her, he was her former master.

"Search your feelings, Ahsoka. You know it's true of my former identity." Vader repeated, storm troopers keeping their rifles trained at the teenager but not yet choosing to fire. "If that wasn't the case, what would the point be of keeping you alive this long?" He persuaded, motioning at the gunships around her perimeter.

Ahsoka took a breath, she knew in the force that there was some truth behind the Sith's words, but she chose to not believe him yet.

"No, you're not. Stop trying to get into my head." She replied, raising her lightsabers in a defensive position.

Vader seemed displeased, even through his black respirator mask Ahsoka could almost make out his lips contorting into a frown. "Fine then, believe what you wish, _snips._" Vader hissed. The sudden clicking of multiple rifles could be heard, and Ahsoka knew what was to come.

"_Take her, __**alive.**_" Vader ordered, pointing his saber in her direction, "_fire at will!" _Vader's order did not go unheard, and all the white-clad troopers began firing on Ahsoka. However, Ahsoka had been one step ahead, and was already deflecting the stun bolts before they could hit her. Spinning around, she let out a force push that knocked a few troopers back, even making Vader's cloak and cape sway behind him slightly. However, those troopers that were knocked out were quickly filled by ranks of those that had been behind.

The Jedi girl knew she would be out of luck if she had to continue deflecting blaster fire, she was tiring, and would soon fall before the army accompanying Vader. That was _not _an option. Ahsoka's first idea would've been to use the force to cause one of the gunships to crash, but that take too much effort. However, they were standing outside a cave, with other troopers still inside in a choke point.

Reaching out with the force, Ahsoka imagined the cave entrance in her head, and by bringing her other saber in quickly, caused the boulders above the entrance to crumble and collapse.

"Move it!" A trooper yelled as he tried to escape, only to be smashed by a boulder. Quickly, Vader used the force to dart out of the cave entrance and away from the hazard while some troopers were crushed and the rest were blocked off due to the second collapsed entrance.

"Clever." Vader commented, approaching his former padawan. "But you can not stop me with such tricks, Ahsoka." He added.

Ahsoka twirled her sabers, knowing the toughest thing to come was walking right towards her. If she survived General Grievous there was a _chance _she could survive this. Her chance was small, but Ahsoka had no where else to go currently. However she did have one advantage, and that was the fact Vader hadn't fought someone with dual sabers for awhile, so she hoped he may rusty if not easy to unbalance.

"I won't need tricks to help me, I have the force." She replied, before springing in the air towards him, attempting an overhead slash. Vader quickly brought up his own crimson blade for defense, blocking her attack. As her feet hit the floor, she attempted a sweep kick but found it did nothing, and used the force to steady herself back up. "Useless." Vader commented, swinging his saber at her left, and then at her right, before attempting a stabbing poke aimed right at her head. The female was able to block each one thanks to her lightsabers, striking the Sith's sabers on the side with both lightsabers to make his body twist and stumble _slightly _in the opposite direction. Vader quickly regained his composer, unphased.

"I know all your tricks, I trained you after all. Are you still in denial?" Vader clearly was attempting to gain an edge by distracting her and tweaking her emotions to his disposal. While Ahsoka felt a pang in her heart as she began to believe him, she could not let herself give in.

"So what if you _were _Anakin? You clearly aren't now. It's no longer you, you're no longer my master but a **monster**." Ahsoka spat angrily, keeping the crimes he had committed against countless worlds, Jedi, and even children burnt into her mind.

Vader did not waste time in diving back in, attempting to bring his saber upwards in a literal uppercut, however Ahsoka skillfully pushed off her toes to back away. The togurta knight managed to twirl on her fet, hitting him back with both of her sabers in rapid succession before ending with a force push. Vader was sent back slightly, his feet tearing up grass and dirt like a peeling as he used his weight to ground himself against he blast.

"You've learned much!" He stated, outreaching his hand to grasp her at the throat with the force. Quickly, Ahsoka was lifted in the air, choking as she was practically being hung by an invisible rope.

"Up until now I have been toying with you. Your skill is _capable _but it's dwindled. However, I do not wish to kill you. I wish for you to join me." He stated, slamming her to the ground and then pushing her back. Ahsoka felt air fill her lungs again as she stood, clasping her sabers tightly and breathing fast.

"Together, my old padawan, we can end the Jedi. The Jedi that betrayed you and casted you out." Vader offered, deactivating his lightsaber. Ahsoka stopped for a few seconds, considering the idea in her head.

_He's right, they did betray me, they did cast me out of the order. Yet, they only imprisoned Offee for a few months and then let her return to the battlefront._

Ahsoka was deeply disturbed by this. By now, she could feel the similarity between Vader and Anakin, even if it was clouded by hatred and anger it was still him. However, the Empire Vader now belonged to had committed more atrocities than she could stomach. Plus, Vader's Emperor, was nothing more than the equivalence of Satan himself.

"No." She replied simply. "I will not join a government filled with greedy lying killers that exploit worlds and murder innocents. _Even if I'm not a Jedi_, even if it wasn't for the order, I will not aid you or your disgusting Sith master ever. You wanted this, not me. To me, Anakin is **dead** and has been replaced by this ugly suit."

Vader bowed his head, before returning his gaze to her.

"Then what's left of the compassion I had for you died with him." He said finally.

"Kill her." Vader ordered in an almost depressive tone.

Suddenly, the gunships opened fire on Ahsoka, and the Jedi was not capable of taking hits from multiple different opponents at once that had encircled her. The Jedi Knight's last few actions of defense were the parrying of blaster bolts before being hit in the back, head, and stomach. Falling to the ground and dropping her sabers, a slight tear came from her cheek as she remembered that day she left the Jedi Order.

Silently, Ahsoka fell face first into the dirt, smoke radiating from the areas of her body the thick energized weaponry had hit her, becoming one with the force seconds later.

Vader silently looked at the dead body only a few yards in front of him, silently turning his back and walking away quietly. A pang of regret was currently hitting his heart, it was true that he did not wish to kill her. She was like a daughter he never had with Padme, and next to Obi-Wan, his former best friend. Now, like all the other Jedi, she had denied him, disowned him... Putting her down was not as easy as it was with the others, he had felt a personal connection to this... He tried to avoid this...

Imperial storm troopers and hazard specialists exited one of the special gunships that had landed, putting the dead Jedi onto a stretcher and taking her back inside the large ship, preparing to take her to a crematorium in the closest sector for disposal.

Vader, in the meantime, felt like he had just killed a part of himself...

**Next chapter: Vader's Regret. I'd like to again thank everyone who has been following this story which is now almost at it's end. You're all truly the ones I do this sort of thing for. Happy late Halloween as well! **

**-Chaanoua**


	6. Chapter 6

Back on Vjun, Vader sat within his spherical meditation chamber, slumped over in his seat, quietly moping. He had so hoped that Ahsoka would've been willing to drop the rebel dissertation act and join with him, reunite. The Sith hadn't seen her since she marched away from the temple, now he had been the direct cause of his late pupil's death on Dantooine. Such things weren't easy to accept, even for him. During Knightfall, the raid on the Jedi temple, Vader had felt remorse for killing younglings. He remembered the feeling of hesitation as he ignited his saber, a violent reply to one of the younglings who had questioned what they were going to do in the midst of the 501'st raid.

Vader's shame that he felt on Mustafar had come back again, and if his tear ducts hadn't been burned away months ago, he'd be in tears about now. All he wanted was at least for one of the people he considered close to not abandon him, yet Ahsoka too had done so... Twice.

"This is becoming too much..." Vader murmured to himself, a sigh escaping his throat as he listened to the sound of his respirator forcing his lungs to expand and contract. Deprived of sleep, haunted by memories of his wrong doings, and stuck in an uncomfortably heavy and tight walking armor that acted like an ICU, his mental state was quickly draining.

"Hmmm?" Vader looked up, having felt a cool breeze hit his face. Considering he was wearing his mask, something of odd temperature had certainly just brisked by. Upon scanning the area with his eyes, the dark lord found nothing.

"Anakin." A female voice called, echoing throughout the room. The Sith knew that voice, and quickly felt adrenaline shoot through his veins. A blue highlight only a few inches away from his open meditation sphere began to form, illuminating a familiar togurta female. _Ahsoka Tano._

Vader looked to her glowing ghost. Despite having killed her, Vader couldn't help but feel comfort from her presence, even if he was sure it was just an illusion made by his decaying brain. "Ahsoka?" His deep voice called, uncertain if she was there or not.

"I want you to know, Anakin, that I am not angry with you." She replied, crossing her arms. "But I am disappointed." She added.

"Who are you to be disappointed in _me_?" Vader asked, rising up quickly. Ahsoka shook her head, "I feel your emotions, I know about the conflict within you." She explained, ignoring his flaring temper. "I know there is still good in you."

"There is no conflict." Vader responded harshly, clenching his fist. Emotions were welling up in the Sith, making his throat feel tight, as if he was choking on both rage and sadness. "I am _me_, I do not have to answer to you."

"Anakin, I did not abandon you when I left the order. You do not hate me because I was a Jedi, but because you feel like I betrayed you. Becoming a force ghost comes along with knowing someone's feelings, no matter how well they try to hide it."

Vader stayed quiet for a few moments, turning away from her, trying desperately to not break down in front of her. She was ripping open old wounds. He felt like he was being set on fire and amputated alive all over again.

"You left despite me trying to help you, despite sharing the fact that I was with you, you didn't even give me a way to stay in touch. I was never more emotionally damaged in my entire life." He replied, the anger in his voice fading to a tone of sadness and desperation. "I can't help but think of the day I took you in as an apprentice..."

Silently, Ahsoka nodded. "That's true, I did. But not because I did not want you in my life anymore, but because I did not want you to do something rash over me."

Vader turned back to her, and simply whispered "I'm sorry, Ahsoka..."

"I forgive you, _Master_." Ahsoka replied, her face riddled with kindness and caring. "I know there is still you in there, you're just very confused and angry right now. It dosen't excuse what you've done, but it's not totally your fault. Palpatine is the one responsible Anakin, and he will pay for it. You are the chosen one, you always were. I can not reveal the future, but what I can say is before you die, you will redeem yourself Anakin. It is your destiny."

Vader went to ask for questions, wanting to know how exactly Ahsoka's force ghost knew all of these things, however the light around the illuminated form of his padawan began to fade. Her expression changed to one of sorrow as she cut him off to explain:

"I never learned how to keep myself manifested as a force being, Anakin. My will to speak with you one more time before moving on was the only thing giving me the energy to exist in your world a bit longer. Now, I must go. Promise me you will do the right thing in the end."

Vader was unsure of if he could keep this promise, but bowed his head, "I promise, _snips_."

With that, her apparition faded into nothingness, leaving Vader alone in his chambers.

YEARS LATER

Vader watched as Palpatine tortured his son whom had just declared that he would never turn to the dark side. The dark lord of the Sith aimed to kill the young boy as punishment, before fully wiping out the rebel fleet outside the large Death Star II.

"Now, young Jedi... You will die." The cloaked man stated with a sadistic smirk, upping the voltage on his lightning to the point that Luke was only going to survive for a few more moments. Vader could feel his son fading. Vader remembered that day on Vjun, the last time he spoke with Ahsoka. Like Luke, she had also believed Vader had good in him, and that he would do what was right, as Ahsoka had made him promise to. This evil manifestation of the Dark Side had stolen EVERYTHING from him, his integrity, his morality, and his sanity. Vader, no, _Anakin _was not going to let his son and daughter die too.

"No!" Vader yelled, lunging forward and grabbing his Master by the waist. Palpatine immediately realized what was going on, however, his focus had been broken, no longer able to control the lethal lightning it quickly came down on the one casting it and Vader. Both were illuminated with electricity as he carried the Emperor to a reactor shaft of the Death Star and threw him over. Within seconds Palpatine died, and a large shock of pure dark side energy channeled up the shaft, and then it was over.

Vader was going to die, everything keeping him alive in his suit was fried beyond repair. In Vader's dying moments, Anakin returned. Fulfilled with knowing he kept his son alive and kept his promise, Anakin soon aided Luke in reaching a Imperial hanger and shuttle so that his son could get off the large automated space station before it's self destructive chain reaction could reach it's climax.

"Luke, help me take off this mask." Vader requested, having tripped and accidentally pulling Luke down with him on the ramp of the shuttle.

"But you'll die!" Luke responded, concern written all over his face.

"Nothing can stop that now. Just once, let me look upon you with my own eyes." Anakin requested, wanting this to be his dying wish.

"Explosions in sector 5-7 and 8!" An imperial worker screamed as storm troopers rushed to escape the Death Star. The black clad worker would then proceed to be killed by an explosion, toppling a large stack of computers down upon him as another explosion caved in the entire room.

"Tell your sister you were right... You... Were... Right..." Anakin whispered, wheezing. The renewed Jedi Knight felt his armor pump life into his body one last time, and then it was over. He was gone, leaving his son holding a body that was no longer his mortal torment.

Later on, during the celebration of the ewoks, Anakin had also turned into a force ghost, having been contacted by Kenobi moments after his death. His former master quickly informed Anakin how to stay as a force manifestation, and so he had. While Ahsoka herself was gone, she was now one with the force. As Anakin smiled at his son who briefly looked over at the three standing together, Anakin turned to Kenobi and asked "Do you think she'd be proud of me, master?"

"Yes Anakin, I think she would be."

That was enough to make Anakin smile again.

_End._

**Well guys this was my first star was story. Now that it's finished, it'll be awhile before I make another. Thanks to everyone who reviewed!**


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